Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences
Volume 24, Issue 5 , Pages 240-247, May 2008

Association Among Metabolic Syndrome, Testosterone Level and Severity of Erectile Dysfunction

  • Hsin-Chih Yeh

      Affiliations

    • Department of Urology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Chii-Jye Wang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Urology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr Chii-Jye Wang, Department of Urology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, 100 Shih-Chuan 1st Road, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Yung-Chin Lee

      Affiliations

    • Department of Urology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Hsi-Lin Hsiao

      Affiliations

    • Department of Urology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Wen-Jeng Wu

      Affiliations

    • Department of Urology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Yii-Her Chou

      Affiliations

    • Department of Urology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Chun-Hsiung Huang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Urology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Received 11 September 2007; accepted 19 October 2007.

Article Outline

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of metabolic syndrome (MS) and serum testosterone in patients with erectile dysfunction (ED) and their possible association. A total of 103 men with ED were enrolled. The International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire was used to assess erectile condition. MS was defined according to the criteria formulated by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). The mean age of the study population was 57.5 ± 10.7 years, with an average IIEF of 14.7 ± 6.7. The age and prevalence of MS using the NCEP ATP III criteria, but not the IDF criteria, were significantly different between mild and moderate/severe ED patients (p = 0.031 and 0.009, respectively). The percentage of hypertension (78.6% vs. 36.2%; p < 0.001) and raised fasting glucose levels (46.4% vs. 19.1%; p = 0.004) were significantly higher in the moderate/severe ED group, and both differences remained significant in multivariate analysis (p = 0.001 and 0.042, respectively). In addition, serum testosterone levels were significantly lower in ED patients with MS (p = 0.002). In summary, the presence of MS is associated with more severe ED. Among the components of MS, elevated blood pressure and fasting blood glucose were independent risk factors. NCEP ATP III criteria seem to correlate better with the degree of ED than the IDF definition. Our results also indicate that MS is associated with a lower testosterone level in patients with ED.

Key Words:  erectile dysfunction , metabolic syndrome , testosterone

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PII: S1607-551X(08)70148-7

doi:10.1016/S1607-551X(08)70148-7

Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences
Volume 24, Issue 5 , Pages 240-247, May 2008

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